The Question Mark ( ? question mark )

The question mark is used to end a direct question, and to end a rhetorical question See the glossary definition .

1. Question Mark for Direct Questions

   • Why is a raven like a writing deskwh-question? question mark

   This direct question was asked by the hatter in Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland. Direct speech and direct questions are rarely found in academic writing unless the topic is literature or linguists. However, questions are posed in academic writing, as outlined below.

   
   

2. Question Mark for Rhetorical Questions

   Rhetorical questions are asked for effect and the writer may or may not supply an answer. In academic writing it is one way of providing an explanation. A question is posed and the writer supplies the answer. This is the most common use or the question and the question mark in academic writing.

   • Imagine delicate frozen crystals on a windowpane during a cold day. What creates that patternwh-question which is answered in the following sentence (see context)? question mark     (context)Imagine delicate frozen crystals on a windowpane during a cold day. What creates that pattern? When water freezes, its molecules begin clustering together. Water molecules have a particular bent shape that causes them to stack into clusters shaped like hexagons as they freeze.
   • But then why do so many people find astrology so useful if its predictions are not well foundedwh-question? question mark Why are astrological signs and horoscopes so popularwh-question? question mark     (context) But then why do so many people find astrology so useful if its predictions are not well founded? Why are astrological signs and horoscopes so popular? It seems that looking to the sky to make some sense of what’s going on right now and what’s going to happen in the future has appealed to a lot of different people at different times in history all over the world.
   • But is any of it truequestion? question mark And where did this idea come from in the first placewh-question? question mark     (context)Everybody knows that firstborns are natural leaders, middle children are rebels and the baby of the family is spoiled yet confident. At least, that’s what received wisdom tells us. But is any of it true? And where did this idea come from in the first place? In the 1930s the Austrian psychotherapist Alfred Adler was the first to study birth order and its effect on personality. He believed that “every difficulty of development is caused by rivalry and lack of cooperation in the family”.